A dataset on African bats’ functional traits

Trait-based approaches are becoming extremely common in ecological modeling and the availability of traits databases is increasing. However, data availability is often biased towards particular regions and taxa, with many taxa (e.g., bats) often under-represented. Here, we present the AfroBaT dataset, a compilation of trait data on 320 African bat species containing 76,914 values for 86 traits focusing on morphology, reproduction, life-history, trophic ecology, and species distributions. All data were gathered from published literature following the ecological trait-data standard procedure. Missing data for both numerical and categorical traits were imputed with a machine learning approach including species phylogeny. Trophic ecology traits showed the highest coverage in the literature (72% of the species averaged over all traits), while reproductive traits the lowest. Our data imputation improved the coverage of AfroBaT especially for reproductive traits, going from 27% to 58% of the species covered. AfroBaT has a range of potential applications in macroecology and community ecology, and the availability of open-access data on African bats will enable collaboration and data-sharing among researchers.


SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION CAPTIONS
− Table S1.List of currently available database on Chiroptera.− *Table S2.List of African bats species described from 2019 to 2021.− *Table S3.List of African bats species for which the taxonomy has been updated in 2020.− Figure S4.Geographical coverage of the AfroBaT dataset.− Table S5.List of vertebrate trait databases used to select trait and field names in AfroBaT.− *Table S6.Traits ontology definitions with cross-references.When definitions were not available in other trait ontologies, we built our own ontology.− Table S7.Thesaurus of terminology used in AfroBaT, and the equivalent expressions found in the references used.− *Table S8.Morphological traits reported in AfroBaT.Minimum, maximum, and average values were collected for each numeric variable except for the 'Number of teeth' which has a single, normal value for each species.In 'Dental formula' the types of teeth are represented by the first letter (I= Incisor; C=Canine; P=Premolar; M=Molar) followed by the number of teeth of the upper and the lower jaw respectively separated by a dash.F/M/U indicates variables collected for female (F), male (M), and unsexed (U) individuals.N/a = Not applicable.A description of each trait is given in the ontology table (Table S6).Data are available in "AfroBaT_morphology.csv".− *Table S9.Reproductive traits reported in AfroBaT.Minimum, maximum, and average values were collected for each numeric variable.'Number of litters per year' included only average and maximum (the minimum would always be 0 for all species, indicating a failure in reproduction).'Interval between births' included only minimum and average (the maximum having no biological sense in case of reproductive failure).F/M/U indicates variables collected for female (F), male (M), and unsexed (U) individuals.N/a = Not applicable.A description of each trait is given in the ontology table (Table S6).Data are available in "AfroBaT_reproduction.csv".− *Table S10.Life-history traits reported in AfroBaT.Minimum, maximum, and average values were collected for each numeric variable.F/M/U indicates variables collected for female (F), male (M), and unsexed (U) individuals.N/a = Not applicable.A description of each trait is given in the ontology table (Table S6).Data are available in "AfroBaT_life_history.csv".− *Table S11.Trophic guild traits reported in AfroBaT.N/a = Not applicable.A description of each trait is given in the ontology table (Table S6).Data are available in "AfroBaT_trophic_guild.csv".− *Table S12.Feeding space traits reported in AfroBaT.N/a = Not applicable.A description of each trait is given in the ontology table (Table S6).Data are available in "AfroBaT_feeding_space.csv".− *Table S13.Foraging habitat traits reported in AfroBaT.N/a = Not applicable.A description of each trait is given in the ontology table (Table S6).Data are available in "AfroBaT_foraging_habitat.csv".
− *Table S14.Feeding strategy traits reported in AfroBaT.N/a = Not applicable.A description of each trait is given in the ontology table (Table S6).Data are available in "AfroBaT_feeding_strategy.csv".− *Table S15.General diet traits items reported in AfroBaT.N/a = Not applicable.A description of each trait is given in the ontology table (Table S6).Data are available in "AfroBaT_general_diet.csv".− *Table S16 S3.List of African bats species for which the taxonomy has been updated in 2020.

Table S1 .
. List of plant families and genus considered in the 'AfroBaT_detailed_diet_plants' table.The lower taxonomic level is given only if mentioned in the reference.−*TableS17.List of insect orders and families considered in the 'AfroBaT_detailed_diet_insects' table.The lower taxonomic level is given only if mentioned in the reference.−*TableS18.List of arachnid orders and families considered in the 'AfroBaT_detailed_diet_arachnids' table.The lower taxonomic level is given only if mentioned in the reference.−TableS19.Subset of traits considered for the data imputation.−*TableS20.List of African bats considered in AfroBaT dataset with information on the availability of phylogenetic data (1=yes; 0=no) and related synonyms in VertLife database (if present).In the column 'Nomenclature in trait datasets' are reported the species for which we have updated the nomenclature in the trait datasets.−*TableS21.List of files within AfroBaT dataset.−*TableS22.List of species-specific SDMs within each NetCDF file.Species with name List of currently available database on Chiroptera.TableS2.List of African bats species described from 2019 to 2021.

Table S5 .
List of vertebrate trait databases used to select trait and field names in AfroBaT.

Table S6 .
Traits ontology definitions with cross-references.When definitions were not available in other trait ontologies, we built our own ontology.